The biggest debate over Martin Scorsese‘s current hit The Wolf of Wall Street hasn’t been its quality. Its been its ethics. The film shows stockbrokers lead by Jordan Belfort (Leonardo DiCaprio) abusing the legal and financial systems to ridiculous gain, only to blow it all on lavish possessions and parties. Some have said the film glorifies these actions. Others, and I’m in this camp, think it paints Belfort as a terrible person and ends up being a harsh criticism of America’s economic character.

Another reason for the controversy is the film features a cameo by Belfort himself, a convicted criminal and informant who is presumably profiting from both the movie and increased sales of his book on which Scorsese’s film is based. Since Belfort has failed to make the restitution payments mandated by his 2003 conviction — he’s got almost $100m to go — that’s been a huge sticking point for some.

However, Belfort has taken to social media to explain where his new money is going. While he will profit from the film, all of the money is being turned over to the government as continuted restitution for his years of criminal activity.

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Lawsuits be damned, Martin Scorsese got right into shooting The Wolf of Wall Street this year, with Leonardo DiCaprio as his star once again. This time Leo plays a fictionalized version of Jordan Belfort, a Wall Street big shot who partied his way through much of the ’90s before being targeted by authorities for securities fraud and money laundering. The whole sordid tale is told in Belfort’s book of the same name, which was the basis for a script by Terence Winter (Boardwalk Empire).

The film shot as an indie, with Warner Bros. participating in early development, but now Paramount has picked up the domestic distribution rights, and is already planning a late 2013 release — in other words, the studio sees Scorsese’s new film as an awards contender. The cast also includes Matthew McConaughey, Jonah Hill, Jean Dujardin, Rob Reiner, Kyle Chandler, Margot Robbie and Jon Bernthal.

As rights are just being sold now and the film isn’t expected to hit for another year, we’ve probably got a while to wait before a trailer materializes, but [Deadline]

I don’t know what’s gotten into Matthew McConaughey lately, but here’s hoping it sticks around a while. 2012 is shaping up to be the single best year of his career, with Richard Linklater’s Bernie, Steven Soderbergh’s Magic Mike, William Friedkin’s Killer Joe, and Lee Daniel’s The Paperboy all in theaters. His 2013’s not looking so shabby from here either. McConaughey has just signed on to join Leonardo DiCaprio in Martin Scorsese‘s The Wolf of Wall Street, based on Jordan Belfort‘s memoir about living it up as a broker in the ’80s. More details after the jump.

Even as he continues to make audiences laugh in films like the upcoming The Watch (formerly Neighborhood Watch), Jonah Hill is making progress on the more serious side of his career as well. The Oscar-nominated Moneyball star is in talks for Martin Scorsese‘s The Wolf of Wall Street, joining lead actor (and frequent Scorsese collaborator) Leonardo DiCaprio. If Hill keeps this up, he could become an even bigger dramatic star than he is a comedic one. More details after the jump.

We can stop wondering what Martin Scorsese will do to follow Hugo, and it won’t be his long-hoped for projectSilence. Last month we heard that Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio would reunite to make their fifth film together: an adaptation of the Jordan Belfort memoir The Wolf of Wall Street. Now the ink is on their contracts. (At one point it looked like Ridley Scott might make the film with DiCaprio starring, but Scott moved on to other projects.)

And so The Wolf of Wall Street, working from a script by Terence Winter (The Sopranos, Boardwalk Empire), will shoot in New York in August. More details follow. Read More »

So are films about financial disaster and malfeasance going to be the new thing for a few months? We’ve got Oliver Stone’s sequel to Wall Street hitting soon, and the cast for Margin Call either means that it’s a good piece of work or that it’s just the best gig going in New York right now. That’s to say nothing of the many documentaries that are covering the action and aftermath of the recent financial crisis.

So I’m not surprised to see that plans are being revived to make The Wolf of Wall Street, a film that once resided on Martin Scorsese‘s slate with Leonardo DiCaprio attached to star. DiCaprio is still a part of the package, but now Ridley Scott may direct. Read More »